Monday Author Meetup: C. Henry Martens, Monster of the Apocalypse

My guest today is C. Henry Martens, sci-fi visionary.

About the author:

C. Henry Martens has a rich and varied life that has included owning and running businesses, raising cattle, winning at poker, and delivering babies in back country cabins under emergency conditions. He and his wife play in the outdoors with passion. He likes to build stuff, do art, garden, and has a special interest in animals. An unapologetic pragmatist, he embraces reality in politics and religion. For him, a good cheap wine, old friends or complete strangers with something to say, and a great view…sublime.

Welcome, C. Henry. Please tell us how you began writing?

I had something happen that destroyed my confidence in humanity. Diagnosed with severe depression, I decided to self medicate by taking out my frustrations on my keyboard rather than eat pills. I’m not sure if I made the right choice, but I enjoy speaking the truth as I see it through my character’s eyes.

Describe your favorite place to write.

I have a window with an old library table in front of it. It’s cluttered with notes and a dictionary and two thesauruses, plants, and the occasional cat.

Are your books published by a large publishing house or small press? If so, how did you come to be with this publisher?

I’m an indie author. I have to say that most indies that are worth a read are better than the big houses. Indies don’t write by a formula.

Are you a plotter or a pantser? Why?

Pantser for sure. I like having a goal that shifts, bobbing and weaving as it entices me in the chase to catch it. I’ve started with a simple idea that I thought would be arrived at quickly, only to find it last in some way or other through page after page. It’s fun to have a surprise available.

How do you develop your plots and your characters?

The idea for the Monster of the Apocalypse trilogy came to me once I understood what artificial intelligence and robotics could be capable of. We are in trouble, and once the two technologies are viable, we will find that out.

Do you see yourself in some of your characters?

I am my characters. I may base the appearance of characters on people I know, and roughly their personality querks, but the desires, motivations, and good or evil inside of them is me.

What was one of the most surprising things you learned while writing your books?

That there are educated people in the industry that accept me as a decent author. I had written and had published some articles in newspapers, but when I took a chance and approached an editor with experience and she offered to partner with me, believed in me that much, I was blown away.

What project(s) are you working on now?

I have the second book coming out soon. It will be published by the middle of July. And book three is over half written and it will finish the idea. The circle will be complete.

Do you have a favorite quote? Please share it.

Don’t believe everything you think.

LOL I love that one! Now please tell us a little about your latest release.

My pleasure, Lyn.

Monster of the Apocalypse

Book blurb:

Twenty years ago plagues swept humanity to the brink of extinction. The very few that survived were left in a world of plenty, but resources start to become scarce with the passage of time, and people have lost most of their abilities to do anything but forage.

Two orphans, born after the apocalypse, flee a once safe and nurturing community grown from gathered wanderers now controlled by evil men. There are no laws to be enforced, there is no social conscience to be adhered to, and there is nothing politically correct. The civilized hysteria of the past has given way to hiding when you can, running when you must, and fighting if you are cornered.

A dark stranger immersed in regret, and dangerous to himself and everyone he meets, confides the secret of why the world is as it is.

Two orphans must survive and find someone to trust.

http://www.readmota.com/

Amazon

e-mail: chenry@monsteroftheapocalypse.com

twitter: @chenryauthor

Facebook: C. Henry Martens – Author